More details are coming out about Gary Coleman’s death. It’s somewhat disturbing, so you may want to close this story if you’d rather not hear about it.
TMZ has the 911 call that Gary’s ex wife, Shannon Price, made. Gary was bleeding heavily at that point, but Shannon sounded more concerned about herself when she spoke to the operator, saying that she couldn’t deal with all the blood and that “I’m not down there [with him] right now because I have seizures, if I get stressed out I’m going to seize… I don’t want to be traumatized right now.”
Shannon’s story about how Gary got hurt is vague. She said “I just saw my – I had my husband go make me something downstairs. He just got home, I heard this big bang. I went downstairs, blood everywhere. I don’t know if he’s ok.” Then she explained about how she was afraid of having a seizure and how there was blood all over the floor, repeating “I don’t know what happened. I really don’t know what happened.”
She then went to see Gary and asked him what happened, but continued to tell the operator that she couldn’t help, and said that she couldn’t drive because she was sick with a fever. There were a lot of excuses and explanations from Shannon, with her repeating the story about how she had no idea what happened. “I don’t even know what happened. I just asked him ‘can you go make me some food?’… he hit his head and… I don’t know. I looked at the back of his head and it’s all bloody and gross… I don’t know if he had a seizure, I don’t know if he just hit his head and fell. He wasn’t convulsing or anything.”
Shannon went into the other room after seeing gary and had to be convinced to go back to give him a towel to stem the blood flow. She then yelled at him not to move and to put pressure on the wound, which is something she should have been doing. After she was with Gary briefly, she complained “I’m gagging. I’ve got blood on myself, I can’t deal.” At that point paramedics arrived.
Shannon ultimately decided to take Gary off life support after he slipped into a coma, but it’s come out that they were no longer married despite the fact that they were still living together. Gary and Shannon were divorced in August, 2008. They had a very troubled relationship as evidenced by at least 21 incidents in which police had to be called to their home and Gary’s arrest this January for domestic assault.
While Shannon wasn’t Gary’s wife, she did have the right to remove support. The medical center in Utah were Gary died released a statement yesterday that Gary “had completed an Advance Health Care Directive that granted Shannon Price permission to make medical decisions on his behalf.”
The police report, filled out by an officer on the scene, notes that there was nothing suspicious but that Shannon was disturbed by all the blood. The officer was able to walk Gary to the ambulance. Police have confirmed that “there is no [criminal] investigation” into the events of that night.
Meanwhile Gary’s parents are upset that they didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to their son. They were estranged for the last ten years and Gary sued them in 1989 for allegedly stealing the fortune he made on Different Strokes. Gary’s mom told People “We would’ve loved to have been there by his side at the hospital, to let him know we love him before he passed away.” Gary had no will, but it’s not likely that he had anything left anyway. RIP Gary.
I had read some of this on People a few days ago. Why wouldn’t she help him? This is very suspicious. I hope they pursue this.
One day, my BF passed out, while I was in my bed. I heard a big noise and then nothing. I looked by the door and saw him on the flood… I thought he was dead and that he electrocuted himself (because he was turning off the light when he passed out)…
I went MANIC….
I did everything that you should not do like: touching him (even if I thought he was electrocuted), moving him… I was so stressed I could remember which number to dial… I was screaming his name like a freak!!!
When I got 911, I was hysterical and wasn’t making any sense.
Trust me, if my BF were famous and that the phone call were released to the media, I would have looked like a psycho who just killed her man….
I don’t know about what really happened, but we cannot judge just by the phone call. Under stress people can have very different reactions…
His wife and family make me sick!
I just love how suddenly the very family who stole every penny from him are now suddenly so ‘saddened’ by this and apparently ‘love’ him. Its phony and sickening. Where were they after all those yrs after stealing from him?
I heard the 911 call from his ‘wife’ and she’s just as sick. Ive had plenty of fevers and I know I certainly could have taken someone to the hospital with one. Im also the same way with blood, literally makes me sick and dizzy but if someone was lying in front of me bleeding from the head, I could and would certainly find a way around it, even if it were a total stranger and not my ex-husband whom I still lived with.
Am I the only one that thinks that she killed him?
If the genders were reversed, and a man said that his wife fell and hit her head hard enough that she eventually died from the injury, and the husband said I can’t take her to the hospital because I have a fever, he’d be in custody right now.
Nothing suspicious? Give me a break.
Not everyone can hold it together in a crisis, especially if they’ve never had to deal with anything like it before. I can also see that she didn’t want to go into a seizure and be of even less use than she was on the phone. Not everyone expresses themselves well or sensitively while on a 911 call, thinking someone is dying in the next room, either. It does sound like the former Mrs. Coleman had been coddled and indulged in her life and just couldn’t deal with an actual life-and-death situation. It happens. Like Lilou said, my husband freaked out on two occasions when I have been ill/hurt. Luckily I’ve always been conscious and could hold it together long enough to tell him what to do. He could probably whip together a tourniquet or do an impromptu field dressing for a stranger, but if it’s me he can’t deal.
I was wondering when this story would break. Now I feel for Gary more than ever. He’s been viewed as a waste of space by most of society, right to the bitter end. His family screwed him over as a child, left him for broke, although he was a celebrity, he tried his best to live a normal life, but constantly made fun of by everyone (I remember he was hounded by press while working his security beat), then his divorced wife pulling the plug? Suspicious. I do hope they spend the resources and investigate because that is the very least we can do for Gary. Rest in peace, dude – hope you’re living large on the other side.
I have had to deal with crisis before, and every single time I froze. Like completely froze, didn’t want to touch the person out of fear, had to be told exactly what to do and then I did it very slowly. I don’t think she had anything to do with it, I think she just froze.
And as far as pulling the plug on life support, how much does life support cost per day in the States? I’m Canadian, so I don’t know, but isn’t it probable that she/his estate couldn’t afford it?
Something’s fishy here…
YOu guys should actually listen to the 911 call, Its disturbing and very callous.
His parents have had a lifetime to tell him that they love him. Their absence from his life is inexcusable-not to mention their treatment of him as a child.
I hope wherever he is, he’s happy now.
he’s been arrested for domestic abuse and now he turns up with a fatal head wound… fair enough. might be controversial but if i was the cop in charge i would not be pursuing it. .
@ WTF – No, you’re not the only one who thinks she killed him; I think so, too.
I’ve gotten panicked and/or ill when a loved one is bleeding or unconscious, but nothing on earth would stop me from trying to help them, be it a parent, my husband, or one of my children. A stranger would have been more compassionate to Gary than his ex.
Whatever happened, I hope he’s in a better place now. He had a rough life and everyone took advantage of him, plus he had a lot health problems.
If there’s reason to be suspicious, I’m sure the police will look into it, especially with a high profile case.
I think she was in shock. She called 911. She told him not to get up & put pressure on his wound. Would it have been better if she’d gone down there, seized herself, and both of them were incapacitated? People deal with stressful times in different ways. I’m not gonna judge her. It’s a tragic situation.
Sad ending to a sad life. RIP Gary.
It sounds like Gary was conscious when the paramedics arrived (“… walked him to the ambulance…”) and I think I read that he went into the coma after being in the hospital for a while. He probably could have told doctors or cops how he got hurt. I love a good scandal like anyone but I don’t think it’s this story.
OMG she killed him!!! Well, that’s what I initially thought. It could still prove to be true but if he was able to walk to the ambulance, would he have been able to tell someone something? Maybe they were co-dependant on each other enough not to. I don’t buy the freakout story, like others in the same situation I did have a minor freakout when it happened to me but I’m freaking out trying to help and get the ambo there asap.
Despite the estrangement between Gary and his parents, it’s still pretty callous not to make an effort to call them and give them the chance to say goodbye. Callous appears to be a good word for her.
What a tragic end to a tragic later life.
The 911 call was awful and there’s something horrible and cold about this woman, but I don’t think she did something to try to kill him.
He already had a ton of medical issues, this was probably just the minor thing that tipped the scale. From what I understood, he went downhill very, very quickly, and since he had a living will in effect, life support was removed fairly quickly as well.
His parents screwed him over a long time ago and GC seemed to have become a very bitter person, sadly. It’s too bad that it’s only now that he’d dead that they’re showing up and looking for answers about how he died.
With all of the arrests and trouble Todd Bridges got into, who’d have thought he would have been the one to end up so balanced and happy?
What Ken said. Well said btw.
She is as dodgy as f**k, but that doesn’t make her a killer. The situation seems suspicious, but then again this woman always sounded like a clot in any interview or comment of hers I’ve read, which could account for her “selfish” behaviour
the 911 call is the key. listen carefully, and you’ll hear her laying the foundation of her alibi right from the get-go. she places both herself and coleman before she even broaches the subject of the reason for the call. panic sets in only when she realizes he’s coming around. innocent people do not explain the circumstances surrounding a 911 call before stating the reason for the call. staged 911 calls have been used to help convict murderers. there’s not a shred of doubt in my mind that she caused his death. the one question i have is whether or not it was intentional.
@ WTF: Yeah, I’m with you. I have thought she killed him from the first minute this story broke. You can’t help but think that if you ever saw how she talked to him, like he was a piece of dog doo that she had to scrape off her shoe. Of course he talked to her like that as well, but he’s the one who’s dead so…do the math.
I never understood why these two stayed together, they had what can only be described as a toxic relationship. Life is too short to stay caged up in that kind of BS. Tragic that it had to come to this. I do hope they do a thorough investigation, because this is fishy as hell.
tiki – i’ve not heard yhe tape, but the quotes I’ve read gave me exactly that impression too. Especially as whenever i hear of a murder I automatically assume the partner did it.
But as yet there’s been no arrest, much less a conviction, for the moment she and daddy dearest must be presumed innocent (general caveat)
Hmmm this story sounded weird from the start.
As someone who has seizures, you’re really not supposed to drive anyway; so her not wanting to drive to the ER I understand; the rest of it is just bizarre.
If you have a history of seizures, legally, you can’t drive for a year after the last seizure. But the rest of the story seems odd, she doesn’t even want to see him because of the possibility of a seiz? What about when they were at the hospital, couldn’t she have a seizure there? What about when (if?) she watches the news? Couldn’t she see something that could make her upset and possibly trigger a seizure? Hmmm….
You all want to believe the worst of every1. Gary walked to the ambulance. Couldn’t he have said there and then, that she wanted to kill him? Now you can tell a killer from the 911 call? Wow!